Global Innovation Fund - Investment Director, Africa Region Lead

INVESTMENT DIRECTOR AFRICA REGION LEAD AUGUST 2021

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

About GIF The Global Innovation Fund (GIF) is a non-profit, social impact-first investment vehicle that finds, funds, and scales-up cost-effective, evidence-based innovations that have the potential to measurably improve the lives of millions of people living on $5 a day or less.

GIF is focused on doing more with less to turn ideas into impact. GIF’s unique hybrid model, as both a UK registered charity/US 501(c)3 and an investor, reflects our dual mission: to invest in innovations that improve the lives of the poor, and to demonstrate how bringing evidence and the power of the private sector to bear can create new solutions to persistent development problems.

GIF offers grants, loans and equity-type investments ranging from $50,000 to $15 million to support a range of innovations with strong potential for social impact at a large scale. We support innovators at different phases of development, ranging from early start-up and pilot-testing to rigorous experiments and larger scale implementation. The innovations GIF supports can be located in any developing country and may focus on any sector relevant to international development.

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

Position Summary GIF is seeking an Investment Director to join its dynamic investment team.

This role sits within the public sector team, which uses grants to fund innovations developed by for-profit and non-profit entities which scale through public sector, multilateral or non-profit pathways. The Director will therefore focus on our grants portfolio, but will be required to assist with risk capital investments too.

Based in Nairobi, the Investment Director will also be GIF’s Africa Region Lead, responsible for establishing and maintaining key relationships in the region, sourcing innovations from local networks, and working directly with donors, investors, pipeline and portfolio organisations.

This role reports to the Managing Director (Public Sector).

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

Responsibilities 1. Sourcing Innovations Sourcing innovations to build a pipeline of prospective investments which meet GIF criteria and the requirements for specific sub-funds. This includes: a. Promoting the GIF investment thesis and helping prospective applicants understand GIF investment criteria. b. Brokering partnerships to source high quality applications. c. Proactive research and outreach to prospective applicants in the region. d. Screening applications submitted through GIF’s open application platform.

2. Due Diligence Leading the evaluation of applications under active due diligence. This includes: a. Undertaking site visits and co-creating investment propositions with local applicants. b. Applying GIF investment criteria, including gender assessment tools, and coordinating diligence inputs from across the investment team, including the gender working group, legal, analytics and ESG. c. Sourcing expert advice from external reviewers. d. Preparing Investment memos and presenting recommendations for funding to Internal Investment Committees and Majority External Decision Panels.

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

3. Portfolio Management Manage a portfolio of grants in the Africa region, including: a. Negotiating terms and finalising grant agreements for approved investments. b. Responding to reporting and monitoring progress towards objectives and KPIs. c. Maintaining risk registers and ensuring a proactive approach to risk identification and mitigation. d. Providing or helping obtain technical assistance for GIF’s grantees to provide value over and above capital.

4. Africa Region Lead Manage operations in Kenya and East and Southern Africa, including: a. Being the face of GIF in the region Champion GIF’s investment and investment approach, building networks to help establish GIF as a recognised and trusted part of the East and Southern African entrepreneurial and investment ecosystems. b. Building relationships with partners, co-funders and co-investors, and help to attract follow-on investment for GIF’s most successful innovators. c. Coordinating closely with country offices of GIF’s funders such as USAID and DFID. d. Building a working relationship with DSI in South Africa and help to source deal flow for the GIF corporate sub-fund, ADVANCE.

Responsibilities 5. Corporate responsibilities Contribute to GIF’s wider organisational goals through: a. Managing and mentoring investment associate(s), supporting them to succeed and develop in their roles. b. Sharing learning internally to inform improvements to GIF systems, policies, and processes, and participate in developing collaborative solutions to organisational pain-points. c. Contributing to wider organisational initiatives through participation in cross team working groups. d. Participating in analytics and evaluation activities to measure and disseminate the impact of GIFs work and contributing to GIF’s transparency and communications objectives through capitalising on opportunities to showcase GIF’s work. e. Provide inputs to internal reporting against corporate indicators, board meeting materials, and external reporting to GIF’s donors.

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

Required Skills, Experience & Attributes • Education in development economics or a related subject.

• A minimum of 6 years experience in international development or public policy within a developing country, including professional experience living and working in a developing country context.

• Experience working with government in a developing country.

• Working knowledge of rigorous impact measurement, evaluation, and economic analysis.

• Experience in evaluating the quality of evidence to support programmes and investments, and experience using rigorous evidence from empirical analysis to assess the social and economic impact of interventions.

• Familiarity with the innovation, philanthropic, entrepreneurial and/or impact investment landscape in East Africa.

• Familiarity with the fundamentals of due diligence, grant making and/or venture philanthropy.

• Strong representational, networking and business development skill, and an ability to manage relationships with a wider range of stakeholders, including government agencies, multilateral agencies, private sector entities (including incubators and accelerators).

• Experience of communicating on development to broad audiences, including through writing public reports.

• Excellent analytical skills, balancing strong attention to detail and with the ability to think strategically.

• Comfort with ambiguity, proven experience thriving in uncharted waters and at ease having challenging conversations.

• Ability to interact effectively and harmoniously with other across diverse teams and cultures.

• Self-motivated, with a commitment and passion to learn and develop.

• Passion, humility, integrity, team player, proven self-direction and a spirited sense of humour.

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

How to Apply All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page. You will need to complete a short application form and submit an up-to-date curriculum vitae (of no more than 2-3 pages), and a cover letter. Please prepare your CV and cover letter before applying as they will be requested at the end of the application form. The documents should be saved in MS Word in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyyyy) e.g., Malika Cook-CV082021GIF. Timeline Closing date: 20th of September Equality Statement Equality and diversity are at the core of GIF’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

Selection Process All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.

Queries If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email gif-investment-director@ oxfordhr.co.uk in the first instance.

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

About Oxford HR Oxford HR operates globally - mainly within the international development and charity sectors. We carry out retained executive search mandates at board and senior management levels. We also offer human resource and organisational development consultancy.

Oxford HR has many years of experience in search as well as an extensive network of international development, social sector, corporate, public sector, and academic contacts from across the world. We carry out comprehensive and often international searches designed to meet the specific needs of our clients.

Oxford HR’s team members have significant personal experience of working in international development and the social sector as well as the corporate and governmental sectors.

We are in a unique position to find and assess talented individuals from a variety of backgrounds.

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)

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GIF Investment Director (Africa Lead)